Rebecca Saunders, whose focus on the later prose of Samuel Beckett has for many years now been essential for her composition work, will not only once again relate to a Samuel Beckett text in her commissioned work but will, for the first time, also adapt the text for a singing voice. The selected text entitled XIII comes from the later prose collection Texts for Nothing and also forms the working title of the new piece of work.

The composition XIII will be conceived as a space-filling and shaping work that is to be specially arranged both spatially and acoustically by the Ensemble Musikfabrik in Cologne for the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic in a production phase lasting several days: beyond the stage the performance will be played out on the ambulatory on the middle level, the three galleries (uppermost level) and the various nooks and crannies of the theater space. The premiere of XIII aims to make a significant contribution to Musikfest Berlin 2017. The project is another initiative on the part of Musikfest Berlin to keep its program open to the present day. The EvS Music Foundation is supporting the composition commission and the premiere of the work.